Gushue sweeps past Koe on wild night at Co-op Canadian Open

NISKU, Alta. — It was “Crazy Eights” night Wednesday at the Co-op Canadian Open as all four winning teams in Draw 8 scored totals of eight points.

Team Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., cruised past Calgary’s Team Kevin Koe 8-2 while Calgary’s Team Brad Jacobs defeated Team John Shuster of the United States by an identical score.

Meanwhile, Winnipeg’s Team Matt Dustone scored five in the sixth end to double up on Saskatoon’s Team Mike McEwen 8-4 and Team Marco Hösli stole four in the fifth end to wrap up an 8-1 victory over Team Yannick Schwaller in an all-Switzerland showdown.

Gushue and Jacobs improved to 2-0 records at the halfway point of round-robin play. Dunstone, McEwen, Hösli and Schwaller are all level at 1-1. Koe and Shuster fell to 0-2 records and are on the brink of elimination.

“I thought we played a really good game,” Gushue said. “We played a perfect first end and got a two and then got a little lucky in the second end with Kevin missing the draw. We played a good end but you expect Kevin to make a draw to the four-foot. Once we were up 5-0, it was really just kind of keeping things a little more simple, not give up a big end and we were able to do it.”

Indeed, it was singles going steady for three ends and Gushue put an exclamation mark on the match with another deuce in the sixth.

It’s the first Grand Slam of Curling event for Gushue with Brendan Bottcher, who joined as second after the team parted ways with E.J. Harnden last month. Gushue said integrating Bottcher into the lineup has been a lot easier than he thought it would be.

“He’s really easy to get along with us,” Gushue said. “I love his perspective on the game and his feedback on strategy, ice and shot selection. He’s a very good weight judge, which I’m thrilled about.

“Obviously, he’s still working on the technique and all that stuff, so we’ve got to give him a bit of time, but he’s far ahead of where I thought he would be, so we’re very happy right now.”

Gushue praised the enthusiastic and supportive crowd although it helps that Bottcher and lead Geoff Walker are both from the Edmonton area.

“A good atmosphere, it is a beautiful building and the ice is great, too,” Gushue said. “It was really enjoyable out there playing and hopefully, it stays that way all week. If the crowds get bigger and the ice gets better, it’s going to be a fun week.”

Team Jacobs third Marc Kennedy, who is from nearby St. Albert, echoed those sentiments.

“What a great crowd, beautiful building, good energy for a Wednesday night,” Kennedy said. “It’s going to be rocking here on the weekend. It feels great. I’ve got some family and friends here watching and so far it’s been a great week.”

Jacobs opened with the hammer but was forced to a single in the second and Shuster jumped ahead on the scoreboard with a deuce in the third.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion Jacobs retook control with authority as he made an angle triple to score three points in the fourth end that fired up the crowd.

“Brad played amazing tonight,” Kennedy said. “Two big shots in the fourth end. We were in trouble. To be honest, I played like (expletive). Skip bailed us out and got the crowd into it, guys are fired up, so that’s why he’s here.”

Shuster’s last rock in the fifth end flashed through the house to give up a steal of four and led to early handshakes.

“A couple of good draws to the button for hammer and a couple of wins sets us up well,” Kennedy said. “Every game you play here is tough. You’re just really trying to do everything you can to get to the weekend and that gives us a good chance.”

Dunstone needed to get back on track after losing 4-2 to Jacobs on Tuesday to start the tournament.

“We got behind the eight-ball yesterday," Dunstone said. "To come up with a big win against a great team tonight, obviously, a lot of confidence moving forward and still a lot of work to be done.”

Dunstone and McEwen kept it close to start as they alternated deuces and singles through the first half with the score tied 3-3 at the fourth-end break. McEwen pulled ahead with a single steal in the fifth, but a solid sixth that Dunstone punctuated with an open hit to get his big five-count put the game out of reach.

“After third stones, we knew we were cooking something big there,” Dunstone said. “We got a couple of fortunate breaks. We had an incredible end. I don’t think we missed a shot in that end, set up everything perfectly and ended up having an easy one on my last. You don’t get that too often.”

UP NEXT

Round-robin play resumes Thursday with Draw 9 at 10:30 a.m. ET / 8:30 a.m. MT.

Coverage on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ begins with Draw 10 at 2 p.m. ET / noon MT.

NOTES

The Co-op Canadian Open is the second Grand Slam of Curling event of the season featuring 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams from around the world. … Round-robin play runs through to Friday evening. The top eight teams advance to the playoffs. If necessary, one tiebreaker draw will be played Saturday morning. … The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday with both finals on tap Sunday.